Found: boy toys for rich older women in Manhattan

By Bill Berkrot and Karina Huber

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The age-old complaint by mature women that men their own age are only interested in pretty young things was turned on its head at an exclusive speed-dating session in New York.

At "Natural Selection Speed Date II: Sugar Mamas & Boy Toys," held in a posh club on Manhattan's Fifth Ave, it was a chance for wealthy older women to have their choice of younger men whose only qualification was their good looks.

"Now it's the women's turn," said Janice Spindel, who calls herself New York's most exclusive matchmaker and who screened more than 5,000 male applicants before winnowing them down to 20 "boy toys," all of them under 35.

The 20 women who took part in Thursday evening's event were all older than 35. Every one earned at least $500,000 a year or had a minimum of $4 million in liquid assets.

"Why can't a woman who has money get a really hot little boy toy?" asked Spindel.

As champagne and cocktails flowed freely and with a romantic New York City skyline for a backdrop, organizers with stopwatches and whistles made sure the women and the prospective "boy toys" changed partners every few minutes.

"All the men that were there were exceptionally good looking nice gentlemen. They were funny. They were bright," Gail Garrison, a 44-year-old blonde who owns a clothing design company, told Reuters after the event.

"I don't know whether people made love connections or not but on a professional level I made two great connections," Garrison said. "There were a couple of great guys that I'd like to get to know better as a friend, and if something more comes of it, then great."